Blue Systems to Sponsor Kubuntu

According to the Kubuntu announcement, Blue Systems will encourage Kubuntu to follow its proven formula.

The Kubuntu project has announced that Blue Systems will take over sponsorship of the project beginning with the 12.10 cycle in May. Kubuntu, which was previously sponsored by Canonical, is a community-led project aimed at creating a KDE flavor as part of Ubuntu.

According to the Kubuntu announcement, Blue Systems sponsors a number of KDE projects and will encourage Kubuntu to follow the same successful formula as it has always had. The website states, “With this new sponsorship we will have the independence to give the project new wings and take the excellent KDE Software to new audiences.”

Developer Jonathan Riddell writes, “It turns out Kubuntu is very popular and important, people really use this KDE stuff I’ve been working on for the last decade. Blue Systems took the plunge first and said they’d sponsor the project so Kubuntu will continue as a community led, KDE focused Ubuntu flavour and will branch out into new areas like the tablet and ARM. Maybe even server? (KDE has nice apps in OwnCloud and Kolab, these should be better integrated into Ubuntu.)”

Based on the release policy of Ubuntu and its KDE derivative Kubuntu, the next version of Kubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) scheduled for mid January would be a Long Term Support (LTS) version with three years support. Now, Kubuntu's chief developer Jonathan Riddell has announced that there will not be an LTS version; instead Kubuntu is relying on the KDE 4 desktop update.